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Evaluating efficiency gains from tenancy reform targeting a heterogeneous group of sharecroppers: Evidence from India (with Takashi Kurosaki and Saumik Paul), Center for Economic Institutions Working Paper Series No. 2016-10, 2016. Download This paper reevaluates the effect of a tenancy reform, popularly known as Operation Barga, on agricultural productivity in West Bengal, India. We employ a transparent empirical strategy based on synthetic control. We focus on the varying intensity of Operation Barga across West Bengal districts by comparing the districts’ agricultural productivity with that of counterfactual districts using the synthetic control approach. Concerns over agro-climatic diversity and the recorded history of land reforms were also addressed while creating counterfactual districts. We find robust empirical evidence of a negligible effect on agricultural productivity growth. Next, we consider a theoretical framework to estimate the potential gains from Operation Barga i
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Working papers

Evaluating efficiency gains from tenancy reform targeting a heterogeneous group of sharecroppers: Evidence from India (with Takashi Kurosaki and Saumik Paul), Center for Economic Institutions Working Paper Series No. 2016-10, 2016. Download ; Abstract This paper reevaluates the effect of a tenancy reform, popularly known as Operation Barga, on agricultural productivity in West Bengal, India. We employ a transparent empirical strategy based on synthetic control. We focus on the varying intensity of Operation Barga across West Bengal districts by comparing the districts’ agricultural productivity with that of counterfactual districts using the synthetic control approach. Concerns over agro-climatic diversity and the recorded history of land reforms were also addressed while creating counterfactual districts. We find robust empirical evidence of a negligible effect on agricultural productivity growth. Next, we consider a theoretical framework to estimate the potential gains from Oper

Journal articles

Does education improve health? Evidence from Indonesia, Journal of Development Studies , forthcoming. Download ; Working Paper ; Abstract I examine the effects of education on health in Indonesia using an exogenous variation in education induced by an extension of Indonesia’s school term length in 1978-1979, a natural experiment that fits a regression discontinuity design. I find the longer school year increases educational attainment and wages, but I do not find evidence that education improves health. I explore some mechanisms through which education may affect health, but education does not seem to promote healthy lifestyles, increase the use of modern healthcare services, or improve access to health insurance; if anything, education improves only cognitive capacity. Do Islamic banks shift from mark-up to equity financing when their contracting environments are improved? (with Nafis Alam), Applied Economics Letters , 24(8), 545-548, 2017. Download ; Working Paper ; Abstra

Books

Electronics industry in Malaysia (with Shandre M. Thangavelu). In: Findlay, C., ed., ASEAN and regional free trade agreements. Routledge, 256-296, 2015. Amazon ; Website ; Description Efforts to use existing trade agreements to build a larger regional agreement face many challenges. This book considers this problem with reference to ASEAN’s current agreements with key partners and the interest to build the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). The analysis of the options is framed by a focus on the use of supply chains in international business. Issues considered include those related to reductions in tariffs, trade facilitation, the treatment of investment and of services and the definition of rules of origin. The work is informed by case studies of supply chains in automobile and electronics, and in a professional service sector. The book provides a set of priority actions for better progress in taking a bottom-up approach to building RCEP. Exchange rate, mone

Conference papers

Evaluating efficiency gains from tenancy reform targeting a aeterogeneous group of sharecroppers: Evidence from India (with Takashi Kurosaki and Saumik Paul, the 12th Annual Conference on Economic Growth and Development, 2016, New Delhi. The effects of English as a medium of instruction on education and earnings (with Kian Ong), Indonesian Regional Science Association (IRSA) Insitute 2016, Malang; the 15th International Convention of the East Asian Economic Association, 2016, Bandung. Does education increase political participation? Evidence from Indonesia, Indonesian Regional Science Association (IRSA) Insitute 2015, Denpasar. Social health insurance improves women's healthcare use: Evidence from Indonesia (with Shanika Samarakoon), 2015 Australian Conference of Economists, Brisbane. Married men with children may stop working when their wives emigrate to work: Evidence from Sri Lanka (with Vengadeshvaran Sarma), CSAE Conference 2015: Economic Development in Afr